Not Enough
by IndigoRiot
Summary: Kai laughed under his breath. If someone would have told him five years ago that, one day, this obnoxious teen would come running to him about matters of the heart, he'd've laughed outright. And he probably would've passed out entirely if they said he'd actually bother to help. One-shot. T for Language


_**A/N:** I'm currently writing the epilogue chapter of Convergence and it's been fighting me a little, so I was looking through some old files, generally procrastinating, and found this. It's the beginning of a one-shot I wrote around the time that I broke up with my ex. We were together for four years and I was young, stupid, and pretty devastated. It was a pretty rough patch and one of the things that took me away from the site a couple years ago. I started writing this as a release and just... never really got around to finishing it. I've updated laptops since then and I was surprised to see that it survived the transfer. Anyway, thought I'd upload it for you guys to see. It's not much, but I hope you enjoy it._

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 **Not Enough.**

"...Seriously?" Kai said. Or grunted, more like.

Whatever idiocy that had just dribbled out of Tyson's mouth forced him to pause mid-bench press to ensure that he hadn't misheard. Now here he was in the private, central Chiyoda gym in the middle of another one of his burnout sessions. His arms felt like they were about to crap out on him and as he was lying there suspending the weight above his ribs, he was hoping, a little desperately, that Tyson's stupidity didn't surprise him any more than he already had, lest he fucking drop the weight.

"Seriously," Tyson mumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets and sitting on the end of the press next to Kai. Jaw hard, eyes tight, bottom lip jutting out just a little. That kicked-puppy look he always wore back when he was fifteen, whenever things didn't happen like he'd planned and he felt bad about it – five years later and he still pulled it off perfectly.

It was pathetic.

"And you're not – not joking?" Kai grunt-spoke again, pushing the weight straight up again and getting straight back to business. He had another five, maybe seven minutes left in him, tops.

"Jeez Kai, you think I'd joke about something like this? And don't answer that," he said, just as Kai began to open his mouth and say yes actually, yes he would joke about something like that.

"So you seriously said all of that to her?" Kai said, looking sideways at him and raising an eyebrow.

Tyson glared off and out of the windows, jaw pushed out stubbornly, not wanting to make eye-contact. He didn't even answer this time around. Kai sighed and gave in for the afternoon, pushing the weight straight up once more before returning the it to the uprights.

"Well," Kai said, sitting up and wiping the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand and running his fingers through his sweat-dampened hair. "Congratulations, Tyson."

Deep brown eyes snapped straight back to Kai's crimson ones and he looked deeply affronted. "...what?"

Kai reached down to the floor and grabbed his water-bottle, taking a swig before answering. "'Cause, if there was an award for the biggest, blindest idiot on the planet, you'd've just won it."

"Hey! That's not fair, Kai," Tyson countered, his voice taking on that whiney tone that always managed to grate Kai up the wrong way. "You know I –"

"– Look, if you're gonna come to _me_ of all people for relationship advice and then _still_ manage to screw things up, expect to hear something you don't like," he shot back, standing up. "And life's not fair, Tyson. As I'm sure Hilary's just found out," he added over his shoulder. A little cruel he'll admit, but hey, Kai never pretended to be the nice guy anyway.

Tyson narrowed his eyes and stood up too, squaring up to Kai and glaring at him. Kai noted Tyson's hands ball into fists at his sides. He was spoiling for a fight, but only because he could understand that better than whatever turbulence he was experiencing on the inside. "You think this is funny? It's tearing me up Kai, but I'm only doing it because it's what's best for – for her!"

That one really had him there. Kai laughed humorlessly, and folded his arms. "Hn. Right. And all this time, I thought I was the self-absorbed asshole."

"What? You're such a –"

"– a heartless bastard? A fool?" Kai cut in, spinning round and squaring his shoulders, too. He kept his voice low, however. Not because he didn't want to cause a scene in public – he didn't give a toss about that – but because he found that it was simply a more effective means of intimidation.

Kai sighed and placed an exasperated hand on his hip, chewing out what to say next. He was pissed off, but only because it was at times like this where he was reminded that, somewhere along the line, he'd actually grew to give a shit about Tyson and his life.

"Tyson," he continued, "don't delude yourself. You're only doing this because you can't deal with feeling inadequate - you never have. I'm not gonna pretend like this is my area of expertise, 'cause it's not – but I know a good thing when I see it and, I'm telling you Tyson, you're not going to find another girl like Hilary again."

Tyson scowled and glared at his shoes, shoving those hands back in his pockets. Geez, Kai thought, when the hell was he going to grow a pair and grow the hell up. "I know that, Kai," he mumbled. Then he sat back down on the end of the bench press again, placed his elbows on his knees and dejectedly put his head in his hands. It was a few moments before Kai heard him grumble, "but she just, she deserves…" he finished, trailing off pathetically and threading fingers through his navy bangs.

Kai rolled his eyes and turned back around. After hitching up his rucksack from the floor, he shrugged it onto his right shoulder.

"…someone better?" Kai offered. He didn't even need to look around to see Tyson's navy bangs twitch up and down as he nodded his head.

Kai laughed under his breath. If someone would have told him five years ago that one day this obnoxious teen would come running to him about matters of the heart, he'd've laughed outright. And he probably would've passed out entirely if they said he'd actually bother to help.

"Well," he continued, turning to head out to the locker room. He spoke over his shoulder, "it's not like it's my business anyway. I'm not telling you what to do. But, sort your head out, Tyson… this isn't something I can clean up for you."

Just as Tyson looked up with more emotions than there should be in those dark brown eyes of his, Kai turned his head and stalked away. He had an important meeting for a new merger in an hour and couldn't afford to be distracted by grudgingly sympathetic thoughts for someone who just _insisted_ on making their own messes.

Geez. _Relationships_.

Thank fuck Kai had the sense to stay single.

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 _ **A/N:**_ So, there is is, short as shit. If I remember right, I was supposed to have switched to Hilary at this point talking to one of her friends about it, whether that was Emily or Mariah or someone else entirely, I can't remember. I can't guarantee this'll be updated at all, but who knows.

Anyway, umm... happy Tuesday! xD

~ Indie


End file.
